Bad things are always going to happen,” my father had told me in his last year. “There’s no way to avoid that. Our control comes in how we face them. Do we let them crush us, making us despondent? Do we face them unflinchingly and endure the pain? Do we outsmart them?
I’m very pleased to introduce the world to Adrian and Sydney Ivashkov.
Perfection is an admirable thing to strive for. But so is knowing when to stop.
And that’s the thing, I think... the real reason I’m not that weirded out by you two. It goes against all sound logic, but somehow, you two together... it just works.
That means nothing,” said Abe with a shrug. I had a feeling that if I stood and suddenly confessed to the murder, he would still claim it was dubious evidence.
Mister Thorn, something tells me you could sell salvation to a priest.
Do you really want him to get over you?
Observing is not the same as experiencing.′ Li Wei gestures angrily at my stump. ‘You sit there and judge others from a safe distance every day. You assume because you watch us, you understand us. But you don’t.
We loved each other but weren’t so selfish about our love that we could simply turn our backs on someone we cared about.
But who am I to judge? We’re all fighting our own battles, the best way we can.
Throughout our youth, whenever we had a dispute, Li Wei and I would apologize to each other by exchanging gifts. Mine would be in the form of drawings, crudely done with whatever natural supplies I could find. His would always be carvings. There was only one time the exchange didn’t happen, the day I told him I was accepting the apprentice position and would never be able to marry him.
She continue kissing me with that ferocity, so much so that her lips lightly scraped my teeth. It was only a few drops, but as the sweet metallic taste of her blood touched my tongue, a blinding ecstasy flooded my body.
She was so beautiful that it made my soul ache.
Well, I guess on the bright side of all of this, I can celebrate a new family member.
You make me believe anything is possible,” I whispered. “I told you before, we’re the center,” she said. “And the center will hold.
Death. Starvation. Blindness. Another grim day in our village.
Look at you,” I teased, walking over to her. “Fearlessly vanquishing Cashew the Deranged Squirrel.
I agree. I certainly like your mouth.
The two of them made a striking combo, one dark and one golden, both utterly fearless in the face of this danger. They were beautiful in their deadliness.
A few dozen other people lingered in the arena. Some were in groups, some were pointedly solo and eyeing everyone else as potential enemies. Some looked like ordinary people you’d run into at the mall. Others practically had “Yes, I want to join a fanatical vampire-hating group” stamped across their foreheads.